There’s this thing about lenses…

You can never have enough!

Give me an unlimited budget and I’d buy one of everything. Then I’d shoot with each one until I found my favorites. The rest would go on a shelf, waiting for the perfect occasion.

But I don’t have an unlimited budget so I was glad to find BorrowLenses.com.

Of course, you don’t really get to “borrow” their lenses. They rent them out for three days minimum. If you need the equipment longer you can choose a term of from one to four weeks.

You can reserve an item in advance and they ship it to you so it arrives on the date you choose. There’s no deposit charged to reserve your equipment.

When your shoot is over, you put the lens back into the box it came in, stick on the return label and drop it off at FedEx. Simple.

They also rent most of the other production equipment you might need, from memory cards to camera bodies, filters, monitors, meters and even water housings.

The prices are great. For $35 you can check out a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 for three days. This lens will cost you around $600 so spending $35 to have three days see how it works for you makes lots of sense. For $52 you can shoot for a week and get to know the lens really well.

If you’ve got a couple of projects to shoot you can rent it for a month for $149. In a month you could shoot, edit and deliver more than enough work to afford to buy your own.

Which is exactly why I found these guys.

I’ve got an upcoming project where I’m going to need a couple of fast, high-quality lenses. It would be a stretch to buy lenses just for the two days of shooting. But I can easily rent them for a week, get the shots I need and still be profitable.

If you have a fixed schedule they recommend getting the lenses a couple of days in advance so you’re not at the mercy of shipping delays.

I’ll want at least a day to get a good feel for the lenses and I have a travel day to get to the shoot. So I’m renting for a week just to be safe.

Besides the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, I’m getting the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L. That’s almost $2,000 in lenses that I’ll be working with for a total cost of $171 – including shipping and insurance.

So, if you’re trying to decide which lens to buy and need more time than you’ll get standing at counter in a camera shop or have a specific need for a project, check these guys out – BorrowLenses.com

If you’re worked with them or any other lens rental shop, let me know.

-a-

PS – I just became an affiliate of BorrowLenses.com and appreciate your support